Velvet in Serbia
I live in Prague, but I follow student protests daily. I am convinced that students from Belgrade have given birth to another European non-violent revolution and that we will soon learn its name.
Depth Three
DwP – Reception of the works of Ognjen Glavonić, one of the most important filmmakers of the younger generation in Serbia, illustrate some of the mechanisms used to bunker undesirable films.
The Mystery of Serbian GDP
In the current politically and emotionally charged situation in Serbia, even seemingly technical issues, such as Gross Domestic Product, have become subjects of heated political debates.
“Turnip War” in Politics in Turkey
Rıza Akpolat, a young opposition politician and mayor of Beşiktaş, woke up on January 13 with a police raid. He was arrested on charges of bribery and membership in a criminal organization.
The middle finger
What is truly obscene in this bizzare symbol and has shocked even the most cynical observers of local political events, is the fact that the middle finger is coming from a bloody hand.
The shining meridian
How did 100,000 people fall silent on Slavija square, one of the country’s noisiest places, without a leader’s repression, a sound system, or a party hierarchy to enforce order?
Serbia, the digital prison
Amnesty International states that Serbian authorities widely use advanced technologies to spy on citizens. In addition to abusing authority, they have also misused EU accession donations.
War criminals belong in prison, not in public spaces
The HLC filed a request for action on the war crimes criminal complaint against Ratko Adžić, who attacked students during a blockade in Belgrade.
Western money
Populist story about organizations and individuals receiving money from abroad is going around for the umpteenth time. Uknown by whom or how, but “known” for which activities: to destroy Serbia.
Manipulation
Without any evidence, teachers and the opposition are accused of manipulating children, while students are denied of ability to have and express opinions about the tragedy and responsibility for it.
7 years since the closure of the Hague tribunal
DwP – The Tribunal gave its final ruling on November 29, 2017, former Day of the Republic. Its legacy is the vast archive of some of the gravest war crimes.
And now release the children
For the first time, we saw the regime arresting its own. Even if it was just for show, everyone saw it. Weakness, Vučić’s demonstration of impotence – that’s what we saw.
Stop repression and free political prisoners
Serbian CSO’s joint statement: Repression against the people is growing increasingly brutal and the highest state officials justify and encourage it.
Succession
The key to victory in this election was forged by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg in the fires of Silicon Valley. It began with mass production of a new kind of voter on social media.
80th anniversary
DwP – Each year on the day of the liberation of Belgrade from fascism, especially when it’s a round anniversary, there is a sense of anxiety about how it will be officially commemorated.
Days of guilt
Fourteen dead in one day, including a child. Institutions are surprised, expressing condolences. They avoid responsibility, talk about the “tragedy”. Candles are lit. No one is offering resignations.
The first metro line
No one did it before us, they didn’t know how, but we do. That’s what Vučić said sometime in early 2014 and promised the first metro lines would be ready by the end of 2016.
I would never do that
Gisele Pelicot decided to go one step further and requested the court to make the videos of her abuse available to the public. She reasoned that the shame must be returned to the abusers.
Draža, to Terazije! Mladić, get ready!
Nothing would highlight the continuity between the current government and the behavior of Chetniks under Draža’s command during World War II quite like a monument to Mladić.
Brigadier, which army plants flowers while retreating?
DwP – Operation “Medak Pocket” is often used to promote ethno-nationalism, exploit the suffering of victims, and ignore court-established facts.
National Primer or a primer on nationalism
It will be a kind of mandatory military service in schools, a tool for mental training, a new textbook of arrogance and weaning from objectivity – a poorly disguised incentive for intolerance.
You don’t dig digging?
The master of all trades didn’t like it when experts started expressing their opinions. He hurried among the ignorant to explain everything himself before the true information reached them.
No one’s victims
DwP – The trial against Croatian pilots initiated in Belgrade, which, according to the Humanitarian Law Center, initially reached the media, is now unavailable to the public and surrounded by ambiguities.
Lithium, c’est moi
The president explained that citizens are being lied to by everyone. He was surrounded by trees and grass. He was (supposedly) relaxed, unconcerned that anything could spoil the lithium plans.
Dominance of hostility
DwP – Both in Serbia and in Kosovo, we witness the strengthening of nationalism and right-wing populism and the constant production of crises, tensions, and fear of the Other.
It never happened
DwP – For seven years, from 1990 to 1997, the truth stood before the Serbian residents, but instead they were fixated on their “authoritarian regime” and its stories about “national suffering.”
The all-Serbian manipulation of the crime committed in the name of the Serbs
DwP – The denial of the genocide in Srebrenica has gained a new interpretation, in which Serbs are actually the biggest (and only) victims.
The mine or your health, the choice is yours
Is it possible to mine lithium safely? Serbia, as a society, is not capable of organising an extensive, reasoned discussion on that topic.
Scorpion venom
The documentary made by the Scorpions themselves in July 1995 was part of their archive which they intended to show off after the war – when such criminals would be promoted to national heroes.
Stolen lives
DwP – By not prosecuting the war crime of the mass murder of Roma in Skočić, the thread of racism against Roma weaves into the statements and actions of Serbian officials today.
Local elections in Turkey: A “yellow card” to Erdoğan
Erdoğan’s defeat in the local elections raises questions about the long-term viability of his leadership and the AKP’s dominance.
A vortex of violence
The other day, my younger daughter told me that her friends, celebrating the end of middle school, wanted to make T-shirts saying: “We don’t care about your Škodas, we have Lamborghinis.”
